Sunday, January 15, 2017

Comets Complete West Coast Sweep

The Kansas City Comets finished their West Coast road trip in dramatic fashion with a late goal to give them a 7-6 win over the San Diego Sockers. KC raced out to a 5-1 lead before allowing the Sockers to score five unanswered to take the lead, but in the final three minutes, KC scored twice, the last by Alain Matingou with 21 seconds left for his hattrick to give the Comets the win.

The first quarter saw both teams create some chances, but little in the way of scoring, the only goal of the period came with under five minutes left and was scored by the Comets when John Sosa played the ball into the corner for Brian Harris who one timed an effort through the legs of former Comets' goalkeeper, Boris Pardo and into the net. The second quarter saw the Sockers try to work their way back into the game, controlling the flow and possession of the game for long periods of the quarter. Stephen Paterson was up to the task in the net though keeping the Sockers out. Late in the quarter the Comets went on a run, scoring three goals in the final five minutes to extend their lead going into the half time break. The first of those goals came on a shot from distance as the Comets worked the ball around the box before Guerrero Pino laid the ball off to Matingou who fired his shot past Pardo. Just over a minute later, Leo Gibson extended the lead to 3-0 on the break before Matingou scored his second of the game to make it 4-0 heading into the break.

The Sockers came out in the second half and got themselves on the board just over two minutes into the period to cut the lead to 5-1. Less than six minutes into the quarter, the Comets extended the lead back to four goals as Bryan Perez picked out Vahid Assadpour racing to the top of the box where he one timed a shot past Pardo. From there though the Comets defense came apart and the Sockers comeback began. With 11 minutes gone in the quarter the Sockers struck twice in less than a minute with Kraig Chiles scoring twice to cut the lead to 5-3. Then with just over a minute left, former Comet, Max Touloute raced from the midfield line and fired a shot that deflected off Sosa and into the net to cut the Comets lead to one goal. With under a minute left in the quarter things got even more heated between the two sides. After a skirmish between a couple players in front of the benches, Robert Palmer came running in and knocked Eduardo Velez down, earning himself a red card in the process.

The fourth quarter didn't take long to tie the game up, shortly after the power player for Palmer's red card the Sockers tied the game at 5-5. Three minutes into the fourth the Sockers had their first lead as Touloute got his second of the game to make it 6-5 (respect to Touloute as well on both of his goals against his former club he kept his celebrations muted). The Comets looked on the point of a major melt down on the road, blowing a four goal lead. The Comets pushed forward again trying to find an equalizer. It took most of the quarter, but the equalizer finally came with just three minutes left as Ramone Palmer raced forward on a counter before picking out Pino who'd set himself up unmarked on the back post where he just touched the ball home to tie the game at 6-6. The winner, like the equalizer came on the counter as the Sockers had pushed forward trying to find a winner of their own, Ramone Palmer poked the ball away from a Sockers attacker in the Comets half before Ignacio Flores played the ball up field to Matingou who held off his defender and fired a shot through Pardo's legs to put the Comets up 7-6. The Comets held off the Sockers over the final few seconds to get the win and push themselves into a tie for first place in the Central Division with the Cedar Rapids Rampage.